How it ends
by MsSully
Summary: This is how I view the Burn Notice myth ends. I have two endings planned. I hope to do better with this one. I did a story outline. Constructive criticism is welcome.
1. Chapter 1

This story happens at the end of the Burn Notice mythology. This how I view Michael's story ends.

I wish I owned these characters. But, I love writing about them.

Chapter 1

He opened the door to the loft. It was quiet and still. Barren. The loft was a metaphor for Michael's life. What it had become. Everything was gone. The flowers. The sheets. Any trace of their life together had vanished. The bed they had shared was in the same position he had first found it. Oleg had cleared out the place soon after they had disappeared.

Michael threw down the innerspring and mattress and sat down on the end of their bed. Although he had beaten management and had taken part Anson, he felt defeated.

Earlier that year, Michael had come clean with Fiona about who and what he was doing. He was convinced after that conversation, he had lost her forever. Later that night, she came back to the loft to kill him, literally. And she would have, but she stopped. Not because she didn't want to, but because he didn't fight her. He didn't have the heart. She came as close as she ever did to killing him. She hated him. As prepared to slit his throat, she whispered in his ear, "You ruined me, you bastard. Why?"

"I owe you the truth. I owe you my life."

"You're not capable of telling the truth. I don't even know why I bother asking." Fiona looked at him with fury in her eyes. "Why?"

Michael began to review the operation in analytical terms. The CIA had found that Michael was next on the list to be burned by management. This was their in. They approached him. He felt like he had little left to lose. That he could go in deep cover and dismantle their organization or become part of it unwillingly.

"Why, Michael? Why do it?"

"What choice did I have? To go in as deep cover and keep some standing if I destroyed them or be burned with no choices?"

"Why me Michael? Why Sam? What did I have to offer you other than the tactical assistance?"

"You taught me to trust. You were the only person I have ever known that I trusted completely. Sam was loyal. He would watch my back. I never thought about my mom. That's how arrogant I was. I thought it would be over and I would be gone. I never thought I would become who I am. I never thought I would care. I didn't think I was capable of it."

"Why should I trust you now, Michael?"

"I don't have an answer for that, Fi. I wish I did."

She paused. Fiona cut the quick ties and left him alone in the loft.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was an understatement to say Michael didn't sleep well that night. He had lost his anchor. He drifted in and out of sleep. He understood why other operatives had killed themselves while under Anson's control. With Fiona, everything surrounding this had been beyond difficult, but she gave him reasons to live. Without her, he felt adrift in a hurricane. His sanity that night was only kept in place because he worried that Fiona would be Anson's next pawn. That he would use the leverage against her.

He met Anson at the Dinner Key Marina before. dawn Anson sat down and played his mind games. Apparently, Anson didn't know that Michael and Fiona had a falling out. Michael didn't know how long he could keep this to himself. He hoped it would be his lifetime. He was given a new operation and they parted.

Michael opened the door to the Charger and found a note on the front seat. "Meet me at Matheson State Park. Past the marina. Far side of the park."

"Does this ever end?" He thought to himself. Michael pulled out of the parking lot on to Bayshore Dr. He headed down Grand Ave. through the worst sections of Coconut Grove. His mind was lost. Michael was on autopilot. He reached Matheson, paid the beach fee. He found spot from the note. He silently prayed that this was nothing more than a quiet meeting. Michael got out of car and began to walk to the front of the car. He quickly checked out the area. As his back was turned, the back seat of the Charger popped forward and Fiona emerged from the passenger side.

"I know you are distracted, Michael, but you really need to do a better job at paying attention." Fiona could see a silent sigh come from Michael's body.

"What are you doing, Fi. I thought you were done with me."

"Well, may be I am and may be I'm not. We need to talk, Michael."

They walked silently toward the beach. One of the reasons Michael was first attracted to Fiona was because he never knew what to expect. She was his blind spot. Right now, he didn't know what to expect or hope.

They arrived at the water's edge. The sun was rising. "You had an early morning meeting with Anson. How did it go?"

"How do you think it went? Same old, same old. Fi, you wanted to kill me last night. Now, what? Are you planning on killing me? Or do you want me to get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness? I'll do it. I have no pride left."

Fiona stood there for a while. "You really should have brought some coffee, Michael."

He said nothing, opting for watching the water.

"I don't know why I came back. You used me Michael. You used Sam. Even worse, you used your mom. I," Fiona stopped trying to think of why she was really here.

"I need to know, Michael. You need to think about this before you answer. And one way or another you are going to help me start a new life with or without you."

"What is it, Fi?"

"What I am to you?"

For a man with a great ability to manipulate words and actions, Michael was slow to respond. He didn't want to screw this up. He knew she would walk away from him and never return.

"I once told you how hard it was to be with you. That you pushed all my buttons, but you knew all the parts that I hid. Fi, you came after Larry had reconstructed me. I know that I was placed with Larry because they could play my relationship with my father into making me amoral. Ever moment I was with you, I changed. All of the shit I did. All of things I buried, couldn't face, I had to face with you. That's why I left the first time. It was never about being with you Fi. It was about who I had been."

He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts. "When I was asked to assemble a team to go after management. I knew I couldn't tell you. I knew you would come because of how I left. I guess I was like Anson. I played our history to get you to help me. You came and I thought I could keep you at a distance. But, I didn't want to. I was having fun. It was the first time since Belfast. I wasn't waking up ever night in a cold sweat. And you kept pushing me. I liked who I was becoming. It was because of you. Who I was when this started and who I was becoming were two different people. I didn't realize it until I almost lost you that I was lost without you."

"Is that why you didn't fight me last night?"

"I guess. I would rather died by your hand than any other."

Fiona fell to the sand. Michael looked down. She looked so vulnerable and alone. She hung her head and played with a stick in the sand. It was unlike her. Michael sat down and didn't know what to say.

"What do we do now, Michael? What do you want?"

"I don't think it's about what I want. What do you want?"

"I want you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was more than he had hoped for. In the same breath Fi said emphatically, "You have a lot of work to do, Michael. I don't trust you. I may feel this way, but you need to earn my respect. It just doesn't come because we share a bed. I can still slit your throat. In the middle of the night. If I want." She stopped. "I'm not going to give you direction here, Michael. You really need to do this. I can be more dangerous than Anson. Do you understand me?"

Michael sat there knowing that his actions were really what she would judge him by. "I understand, Fiona."

"Oh, and that part about not having pride. That's good. Keep it that way. All this mess is really about your pride. We will see how this works."

Michael stayed quiet for a few minutes to give what she said a chance to sink in. "Fiona, we need to stop reacting to Anson. I think you know that. I have a plan, but you can't be a part of all of it." He waited for her to strike. When she didn't he continued, "Fiona, you need to die."

"Michael, you better be joking because you are really tempting fate here."

"Do you want to know how we get out of this? Do you want your life back? Because more than anything I want to give that to you." Michael became frustrated.

"Fine. What's your plan? Oh, that's right I have to die. I really think this is pay back for last night."

"No, it's not. There's a couple of goals here. First, we need to get some control over the leverage Anson has on you. We need to find Anson contact in the CIA without them knowing this. Then, we need to find out all about Anson. Who is he? How did he get his start? Did he have mommy issues? He mentioned a wife. Who is she? What's she like? Is she medicated? What's his blind spot? We need this intel, Fi. Then we play chess. Anson planned each step of this web. We need to do the same. So, what do we know about this guy. And don't be a smart ass. I need your help."

"Fine. He's a doctor. Sounds like he went to American Schools. He has a snotty sounding New Englandy accent. I wonder if he was pick on in prep school. Sounds like he went in early. Where does DIA recruit from? He likes control. So, he has control issues. Why? Did his mommy stop breast feeding too early? Did his dad ignore him? Was he affluent? How affluent? Did he have nannies?" Fi kept going on and on. Michael sat and listened. He was impressed. As much as she had influenced his practice, it was at that moment he realized how much he had changed her.

"Michael, are you listening? Really, Michael."

"I am. I need to get access to this information, but there's still a mole in the CIA who feeds Anson information. We need to find them and feed them different information while we research Anson's life. That's our first task."

"You know Michael. I'm still not clear on why I need to die. You know how much I really hate when you take me out of the loop. " Her eyes shown with an indignation he learned to respect.

"I know you hate it. And we are not taking you out of the loop yet. But, if this doesn't work, I don't want you to be in some prison because of something you didn't do."

"So, you like prison life, Michael? Ok, look. Let's cross the false death scenario when we come to it. We need to find out this mole. Any ideas?"

"Not a one. Well, actually, I need to find out who read that report I gave Max. That might give us some idea who the mole is. Anson killed Max because of that report. We just need to get this list without tipping them off."

"Ok. Well, we have an idea. Now, I need coffee and breakfast. Followed by a nap." Then Fiona got up and looked down at Michael. "I meant it, Michael. You need to earn my trust. You said it was important to you. Now, you need to show it. I will turn and walk out if you don't keep telling me the truth and your body will be cold. I'm being nice. But, so help me, if you continue to act like a self serving jerk, you will pay and I will enjoy it."


	4. Chapter 4

I am so enjoying thinking and writing this. I so appreciate your comments and ideas.

Chapter 4

Michael and Fiona arrived back at the loft. Immediately, they both started looking for listening devices. They knew that whatever they did from this point on, it needed to be between the two of them. They were going to have put distance between themselves and Sam, Maddie and Jesse. After checking the loft, Fi lied down on the bed and Michael went to his green chair. She was asleep in minutes.

"She must have had the same type of night I did," Michael thought guiltily. Then he started to replay conversations in his mind, all focusing on who would get this report beyond Max. He drew mental lines to all the people who he knew might have eyes on the report. He had met many of them when they debriefed him after his returned. He wished he had his files; there might have been a clue. Now, whoever was Fullerton's inside source was scanning his work.

Some names kept popping up in his mind. He kept thinking, whom would Anson use? Who had the most to gain? Who was most interested in Michael after he returned with the NOC list? Why?' One name kept coming back to him. One person knew the most about him. One man who had selected him. Recruited him. Mentored and abused him.

Raines. "My god, could it be that simple." Anson wanted him to believe that he was the last one left, but he had shown his hand. What if this was like the holy trinity of covert ops. A psychiatrist with a control issue, a manager to over see the jobs, and a master spy handler. It was like a two by four to the forehead. Management and Fullerton had left the agency, they needed a guy like Raines, the talent scout. This guy who went out and recruited the best and brightest from different walks of life, trained them, moved them around, all from the inside. He knew their field skills. It was perfect.

Michael began to realize that he had been played from the every beginning by everyone. His selection, and training. Who he was placed with and why. When he was chosen for this job, his handler had made sure that no one was to know outside of debriefing room especially his former handlers. As a part of the operation, when and if he came back in, he was to see where the roots of management went.

He felt like he found his first lead. That this might hold water. For the first time since Anson had entered their lives, Michael felt like there was light at the end of this tunnel. The question became how to confirm this and play it out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Michael dozed off in the chair. When Fiona finally awoke it was late afternoon. She looked over and saw Michael with his head resting in his hand. "Smart move, buddy. Not sharing the bed." Fiona recognized she needed space. She also knew they were bonded. In order to shake management free, she needed Michael's help. He was the reason she was in this mess. She sighed. It was a lie. She never had to come here to start. She was a big girl and she knew what she was getting into.

Fiona got up and went to the frig. Yogurt, always yogurt. She took a strawberry and leaned against the bench and watched her mark. God, he was handsome. She knew he was thinking about all the angles. "Michael, time to wake up. What did you find out?"

Michael shook himself loose from the chair and moved to the sink. He splashed water over his face and gestured to behind the workbench. Fiona watched as Michael pulled a flash drive from under the wood. "Fi, what do you think about Japanese tonight?"

"Sure. Let's head out.

Fiona grabbed her purse and a pad of paper while Michael went up to the top level and pulled his laptop from the charger. He came down and slipped it into Fi purse.

After he had been brought back in, during the six months he hunted down management, Michael decided it might be a good idea to take his files and have them scanned into PDF form. It turned out to be a lifesaver. He told Fi that he was doing it so he could get rid of them. He remembered Fi, "Sure, I believe that one," look. He was really glad he ignored it. He hired Maddie to scan all of the materials in to his laptop and then transferred them on to the thumb drives. The payment for this service had been steep. Two week of dinners out with his mom and cash payments to allow her to redecorate the house. The cash payment had been easy. The two weeks of dinners, well, that was a like a "Miami Restaurant Tour" for the sixty something set. After the first seven days he had lost 10 pounds. After two weeks, he developed a sinus infection from the smoking. On the hand, he had all the documents related to his burning on two flash drives. He found a slick that Fi didn't know about and placed them there for safekeeping.

When Pearce cleared out his loft of all the boxes of burned spy memorabilia, the flash drives remained. He knew that somehow Anson had gotten those files and used them. He also knew that Anson thought that without those files, Michael would never get his hands on all the discrepancies. These files might hold a key.

"Lincoln Dr? Sushi Samba? Such good memories, Michael."

"And free WiFi at the Starbucks down the street," Michael thought to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After Michael and Fi had dinner, they sat outside the Starbucks looking through the files on the flash drive. Fi began throwing our key words and Michael would do the searches. With each search, Michael's suspicions about Raines connection to management grew. How did he miss that Raines had recruited all of the operatives that Michael had found in Carla's bathroom ceiling. How did he not see the banking connections that Raines controlled? That Raines's connection to guys like Congressman Crowley was so strong. Michael researched Crowley and found his country club records. He had nominated Raines for membership.

They said little to each other. Fiona would point at the screen and Michael would read the passage and type in key words. Before they knew it, there was only five minutes on the laptop battery. But, Michael had enough evidence to believe he knew who was pulling the strings from inside. Michael sat there, furious at himself. "Relax, Michael. We are definitely in a better place than we were. I'm getting a latte. Do you want one?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Fi." She strolled into the Starbucks as Michael began to think about what they needed to do.

"Here you go. So, I've been thinking. All these jobs that Anson has you doing. What's the connection? Of course, other than rebuilding this little venture in social destruction. We need to look at these jobs and what the links are "to he say not be named." Then she leaned over and whispered, "I mean Raines."

"I got it, Fi. The next job I have for Anson is a light one in the grand scheme of things. I have get intel on this guy staying at the Setai. He gave me his room number and wanted a bug and surveillance. So, who is this guy?"

"I think the pressure of working for this control freak has gotten to you. Stop and think. I know this not my strong suit, but I've changed. I want this bastard. So, we will play his game. Do you have and name for this poor sap and does Anson expect me on this job?"

"We really didn't get into your role. I think he's come to expect it after the last three. They guy's name is William O'Malley. He's some kind of computer genius. I guess there's a convention in town and he's a speaker."

"Well, why don't I plant the bug and you do a little intel on this guy and why he is so important to Anson or "he shall not be named. Let's go for a walk."

It was off-season in Miami, which meant that it was well over 80 at 10 o'clock at night. The humidity was stifling which only added to thickness of atmosphere. Michael slipped his hand into Fiona's as they approached Collins Avenue. She didn't stop him. She knew he was making little efforts even though he had a long way to go.

"Michael, have you ever thought about what you want if we survive this? I mean, don't you get tired of all this. I have to admit with is exhausting for me."

"Yes, I have."

"Ok, and you think…" Fi waited for him to reply.

"I never want to get your hopes up."

"Do you want to know what I want? I'll tell you anyway whether you care or not. When you and I first met, you would talk about things that I have come to believe were parts of your cover. Places you wanted to go, other lives you wanted to live. It wasn't just the mayhem, Michael. Were they lies or dreams? Truth please."

They had wound up on Ocean Drive and crossed the street to Lummus Park. Michael didn't answer until they got to beach. "I thought that we wouldn't see each other again after those jobs. I had every intention of leaving you. I had nothing to lose. I didn't have to lie. No one knew what I told you. No one. If had been a different man, I would have done those things with you, for you."

She leaned into him as they looked out at the ocean. "You're getting there, Michael. If you keep it up, you may earn my trust back by the time we're 65."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Fi had effortlessly taken care of the bug and had added one to O'Malley's briefcase. She had also found out exactly why Fullerton wanted this poor geek. He was a profession of computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence. He developed many of the computer systems currently used by intelligence services throughout the world. "Great, just great," Fi thought to herself, "I hate dealing with meglomanics like Anson. They are so not fun."

Michael monitored the bugs from the loft. He was also drawing maps between the jobs Anson had him do and his files. "How the hell did I miss all of these overlaps?"

Both Michael and Fi were keeping Sam and Jesse at arms length. Sam didn't mind it one bit. He was lounging poolside with a mojito in one hand and his ladylove in the other. Michael called him periodically to keep in contact but told him it was slow and have a good time.

Jesse, on the other hand, had been a little more demanding. Fi had decided to handle him. He had asked her to ask Michael to help him with a job and Fi said no. "Look, I nearly lost my job taking out a CIA convoy. Mike owes me."

"Well, since you put it that way, it's still no. He needs to rest. He needs to focus. I'll let you know when he's up for another job, Jesse." Sometimes, he could simply be so, demanding.

Maddie was another story. Both of them had decided to continue a united front. Dinner at Maddie's. Shopping with Maddie. Doctor's appointments with Maddie. Yoga with Maddie.

In between, they tag teamed O'Malley and made their plans. It seemed like they were closer than they had ever been. There was a new honesty between them. They couldn't afford to pretend to each other. They couldn't afford not to listen to each other. Their arguments were more exercises in thought. It was completely new for them. Normally, Michael took the lead, but many times it was Fiona asking the questions. She was stopping him, demanding he look deeper. It was almost as if she had perspective from the balcony. He could see the details and she could see the whole picture.

One night, they had gone to University of Miami Library. They were picking places away from the loft in order to keep their conversations more private. They sat across from passing public documents. Both were bleary eyed from all the reading. There were college kids at various tables, but the library was fairly vacant on a Friday night. They had stolen a key for one of the study rooms in a secluded part of the library. It was Fiona who finally put her head down on the table.

"Do you know when I fell in love with you?" Fiona was startled by Michael's question.

"I have no idea."

"When I was in Washington. They asked me to put together a team. I told them I wanted you. That you were the smartest operative I knew. That I couldn't do the job without you."

"When the CIA contracted me to help you with management and you came to New York you were all business, Michael. I thought this job would be a complete drag."

"When we planned it out and decided how to play this, you were the ice queen. I thought you hated me."

"I did, Michael. Then I came here and all that pretend play became real. You think you can walk away from a deep cover, but you really can't, can you? And you still haven't answer your own question."

"When that house blew up. I watched that house burn to the ground. I called you and you didn't answer. When I opened the door to the loft, I thought I would never hear your voice again. Then there you were, giving me shit. That was it. I fought it. You won."

"Did I?" Fi paused. "I think this one was a draw."


End file.
